Real Smiles
by CupCakeyyy
Summary: Coming home to the horrible news of an attack on her grandmother, Marlene thought it couldn't get worse. Oh boy, was she wrong! Thank Merlin, Lily came to her rescue - with the help of two certain young, dark haired wizards..


Everybody loves Disney - whether they're children, teenagers or adults. This is what this round was about. Each position got a Disney movie they had to use as inspiration. The third Chasers had "Lady and the Tramp".

 _(quote) 'Okay is wonderful.' - AVPM_

 _(object) tea leaves_

 _(quote) 'If you smile when no one else is around, you really mean it' - Andy Rooney_

Enjoy reading!

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 **True Smiles**

I could remember that one moment very well when everything went to hell. It was a nice summer evening during the holidays between my sixth and seventh year at Hogwarts. I had been out all day, enjoying the sun with Lily, as I had come home rather late that evening to a surprisingly serious atmosphere to my home.

I closed the door behind me, slid out of my sandals, chucked them into the corner underneath the light summer jackets and hurried into the living room. My dad was sitting in front of the fire, the folded _Daily Prophet_ I left on the coffee table yesterday evening next to him, staring into the flames. The TV was turned off for once. Very odd. He didn't acknowledge me as I moved past him, shot him a confused glance and walked through the door that led to the kitchen. Mum was standing behind the stove and stirred something in a large pot.

I glanced around the room, looking for my little baby brother. Normally he never left mum's side. Not that he had much of a choice, really, seeing as he couldn't move yet, but it was rather curious that mum hadn't felt the need to keep him in the same room as her, or at least put him next to dad.

"Hi Mum," I said as I put my small bag onto the dining table and leaned against its wooden edge. "What's wrong with Dad? He didn't even notice me come back."

My mum turned around, her face serious. The stew kept bubbling behind her.

"Take a seat, Marlene," she said, wiped her hands on her apron and sat down herself, directly opposite me.

I frowned. Something wasn't right. That much was obvious.

"Did something happen?"

Mum raised a hand and ran it through her curly hair. "It's about your grandmother, sweetheart."

My heart gave a weird stutter and continued beating faster than normal. Granny?

"What happened, Mum?"

My voice was strangely blank of any emotions. I didn't understand what was happening. Granny couldn't be dead. She just couldn't! I told her I'd come over this Saturday to bake her famous Apple Pie with her. She couldn't be...

"There was an accident of some kind," Mum said and reached over the table top to grab hold of my trembling hands. "Her neighbours said that they saw people dressed in black entering her house a few hours ago. In broad daylight."

She looked me in the eye and raised her eyebrows. She knew what this meant, and so did I. They had found my family. I didn't know how they had managed to do that, but Dumbledore had said that they had other means at their hands than the rest of us.

The attacks had increased. It was all over the _Daily Prophet_. In fact, there was an article in yesterday's paper about that exact problem. I had read about it yesterday as Dad had watched the Muggle news. Even the Muggles had picked up on the happenings and the police couldn't find the culprit. Well, how could they if said group of people could shoot dark spells and curses out of wands and vanish within one half of a second, without leaving any evidence behind?

Mum stood up and walked over to the counter, boiling the kettle and pulling out the loose tea leaves she only ever used whenever someone needed to calm down. Just as it was in my case at the moment.

The hot steam of the calming green tea wafted into my nose as I took a cautious sip of the boiling hot liquid. My hands were trembling. I still couldn't understand what had happened. I had spent an amazing, relaxing and very normal summer day with my best friend today, only to come home to find out my grandma had been attacked by Death Eaters?

"She isn't dead," Mum's soft voice echoed through the otherwise empty kitchen, as I wondered for an insane moment whether she was a Legiliment.

I raised my head and stared at her with teary eyes. "Not dead?"

Mum shook her head, her brown curls jumping up and down. "No, she's alive. They didn't hurt her fatally, but she'll still have to stay in the hospital for the doctors to do checkups on her. Just to be safe."

Mum's voice was little more than a whisper as she continued. "Psychologists have talked to her already. She's under shock."

I stared at her and didn't hear Dad enter the room and lean against the wall behind me. My thoughts were whirring around my head, chasing one shocked thought away with another even more shocked confused one.

 _They didn't obliviate her_ , was the main essence of every jumbled thought that shot through my exhausted brain. They didn't obliviate her although both the _Daily Prophet_ as well as Professor Dumbledore had said that Death Eaters _always_ obliviated their victims. So why...?

"They need her." My voice broke at the end of the sentence. I knew it was right, but why did they choose my Granny?

"What did you say?"

I jumped as my father's hand gripped my shoulder and pulled me around rather forcefully.

"What did you just say? You know who did it?"

Mum lowered her head and I knew immediately that she hadn't told him anything about what was really going on. Mum was a Squib in a line of Squibs. The last witch or wizard in her family had died about one-hundred years ago, and from then on there had not been born one magical child into her family – until I came along. So naturally, Mum knew what all the signs meant and when Dumbledore had come for a short visit at the end of last year to talk to her, she had known that the wizarding world was soon to be enveloped in the biggest war in the magical history.

Dad was as much a Muggle as anyone could be and although he had tried to accept and understand the magic in our family, he was having trouble with it.

"Death Eaters," I mumbled and looked over to my mum, who was watching Dad with a cautious look on her worried face. "The Dark wizard I told you about, the one that the _Daily Prophet_ is always writing about... He has followers. The attacks on Muggles or families of Muggleborns have increased and the Ministry is having trouble staying up to date, because those followers of his know how to literally vanish into nothing."

Dad frowned as I took a deep breath and prepared myself for what I had to say next. "They never leave anyone behind alive, and if they do, they delete their memory, both of which did not happen to Granny."

"Does that mean...?" Dad gulped and turned his gaze to Mum and back to me.

"They need her for something," my voice trembled slightly as I looked at my father with red rimmed eyes. "I think this is supposed to be some kind of warning."

"Warning? Why would they want to warn anyone using my mother?" Dad was pale, his brows drew together even further, shadowing his usually sparkling eyes.

"I've been very vocal about my support of Dumbledore," I whispered and looked down to my hands, afraid of my father's reaction.

A short silence followed.

"I see," Dad said in a dangerously low voice, and I looked up to see my mother shoot a serious look towards my father.

"That can't be changed now, I guess," he said, took a deep, calming breath, and stood up. His chair scraped against the tile floor. "Your mother and I will visit your grandmother in the hospital now. The doctors called and said we'd be free to come by any time today. You will stay here," he added in a stern tone, as I opened my mouth. "It will overburden her if there're three people mingling around her bed, asking questions. Clara will be here anytime soon to look after both you and Richard as long as we're gone."

" _Aunt Clara?_ " I exclaimed and stared after my dad as he left the room and went up the stairs to, presumably, say goodbye to my brother. "Why her? She _hates_ me!"

"Oh, don't be ridiculous, Marlene," Mum huffed and stood up as well, as Dad came back downstairs, laden with, curiously enough, two bags.

"What are those bags for?" I asked, already knowing that they won't come home today.

"We'll be staying at the hospital for a night or two," Mum said, leaned forward and kissed my forehead, just as the doorbell went off and Dad went through the hall to get it. "Granny is very confused and it's the best for her to have familiar faces around her. Your brother is upstairs in his nursery," she said, turned around and went to get her shoes.

My dad and her sister Clara came into the living room. Dad made a beeline directly towards me, leaned down and whispered into my ear. "Now, I don't want to hear about any problems when we come back, is that clear? Your aunt was kind enough to agree to look after your brother, so you will act accordingly, am I understood?"

"Yes, sir," I grumbled, huffed as he ruffled my hair and watched him leave me in the room with the devil herself, who kept smirking in my direction.

"Say hi to Mum, will you, Mark?" The devil called over her shoulder, just as I heard the front door fall shut.

*~*Lady and the Tramp*~*

Mum and Dad had left only yesterday, but even those few hours had been hell on earth. Aunt Clara, as I was forced to call her, made sure I got nowhere near my sweet, little brother Richard, to make sure I wouldn't infect him with my _abnormality_. Why Dad had felt the need to tell her about my gift I had no idea, but he certainly hadn't asked Professor Dumbledore, Mum or me beforehand. The devil wouldn't let me see my baby brother, she'd make me do the dishes - she didn't trust me not to curse or poison her through the food if she'd have me make it - and she wouldn't let me leave the house, which was a pity because it was such nice weather outside.

I groaned as I turned onto my back on my bed. This was where I had stayed most of the time - safely out of the way of the badness in person.

I missed Richard. We had a very close bond and with Mum always having me look after him whenever they went out for a night... I sighed. It was weird not to have him sit in his little bean bag next to my bed, listening to a story I read to him.

I turned my head to the side and stared into the bright blue sky outside my window. Small puffs of white were littered across, making the soft clouds look like freckles in the sky.

I sighed again and frowned as something dark moved across the bright sky, coming closer and closer. I sat up, leaning back on my hands and watched a barn owl fly through my open window. I grinned.

"Took you long enough," I murmured and went over to Lucy, Lily's female owl.

Lucy hooted and nibbled my finger as I tried to untie the letter off of her leg. She was a beautiful owl. Her bright yellow eyes followed my every move as I went to my bedside table, rummaged around for a bit and returned with an owl treat. She hooted again, delighted as she picked at her favourite treat, ducked her head as if to say _Thanks_ , turned back around and flew straight out of my open window.

Hurriedly, I took the piece of paper out of the Muggle envelope and read the rather short answer to her two feet long letter I had sent her right after the devil had locked me into my room.

 _Marlene,_

 _We'll come and get you!_

 _Lily_

I frowned at the letter, and just as I turned the piece of paper around to see whether the back contained the rest of disappointingly short message, I heard a soft sound.

 _Click. Click._

I frowned and looked up. Confused, I turned towards the door to find it still locked from the outside. And I somehow doubted that my aunt would find any excuse to unlock it any time soon, and my baby brother couldn't open doors yet.

My wand was laying on my bedside table and, just in case, I grabbed it, holding in tightly in my clenched fist. I slowly crept into the direction of the window. A crunching sound made me look to my feed - little pebbles had been thrown into my room and had landed on the wooden floor. I took a calming breath. No murderer or Death Eater would throw pebbles into their victim's room, would they? I wrapped my fingers tightly around my wand and, cautiously, peeked over the edge of the window.

The first thing I saw was red. Then, to my confusion, black. I raised my eyebrows as I gazed down onto my best friend, who was accompanied by none other than Potter and Black themselves, all of whom were currently standing under my bedroom window, with their hands shielding their eyes from the bright sun. Black was holding a hand full of pebbles.

A pleasant flutter shot through my stomach as Black whistled upon seeing me, started waving like a lunatic, throwing the small stones everywhere as he did so. The stones hit Potter in the face, who jumped to hold his friend still to keep him from injuring him further.

"Oi, you moron," he said, annoyed, and hit Black upside down the back of his head, the latter couldn't stop his snickers and suggestive winks directed at me, though.

Confused, I gazed down and... _Oh crap_.

I was in my underwear! I was leaning out of my bloody window to look down to my best friend, her crush and my crush, wearing freaking nothing but a frilly bra and my pink knickers!

I blushed bright red and hurried backwards so fast that I tripped over the shorts I had discarded a few hours ago after being locked into my too warm room, and fell onto my bum, all the while still hearing the enjoyed _whoop_ s of the black-haired wizard.

I felt like sinking into a pitch black hole in the ground, never coming back out again – _ever_.

 _Oh God_ , I whimpered softly as I peeked out from behind my hands in the direction of the window.

"Come on out, Marlene," Lily called and I heard dull thud as Black, once again, got hit by either one of them. Bless her, she was acting as if I hadn't just shown off everything I could call my own to two boys that neither of us had ever considered a friend before.

 _Are you a Gryffindor, or what?_ A voice in my head hissed as I got up onto my knees and started crawling pathetically around my room to pick up random pieces of clothing without being seen through my window. I glared at my blue top that was laying innocently right next to my wardrobe on the other side of the room, just where I had thrown it earlier. _If it weren't for my stupid aunt, I wouldn't have had to endure this utter humiliation!_ I huffed, pulled the, in my opinion, offensive piece of clothing over my head and hurried back to my window.

Potter had his wand in his hand, his cheeks slightly pink. _Thank you! At least someone who wasn't enjoying this either!_

I gasped as a soft _whoosh_ could be heard and my feet left the wooden floor of my bedroom. "What the...!"

"Keep it quiet, McKinnon," Black grinned, as I floated slowly towards the grassy ground. "Don't want your neighbours to hear us, do you?"

"They already heard us, thanks to you, idiot," Potter rolled his eyes and gently put me down next to Lily. "You alright, Marlene?"

"We thought that maybe we could go somewhere and grab something to eat if that's okay?"

I grinned at Black's sudden shyness and chanced a glance towards Lily, who was grinning knowingly. "Okay is wonderful."

"Brilliant!"

"I think James and I will go to the zoo instead," Lily said innocently and blushed slightly as I gaped at her and then Potter, who was also slightly pink around the nose, but grinning wildly.

"I see," I bit back a giggle and nodded slowly.

Sirius, ever the gentleman, barked out a laugh, nudged James in his side and winked suggestively at him. "You go on then, Prongsie boy. Don't fall all over him, Evans! I want him back still breathing and childless!"

"Sirius!" I gasped and hit him on the arm, as Lily and James hurried away, both sputtering and beet red in the face.

"So? Where do you want to go, McKinnon? I personally am in the mood for some spaghetti!"

Sirius threw an arm around my shoulders, tugged me into his side and led me away from my house and my devil of an aunt.

"Thank you for doing this," I muttered quietly as we walked down the sunlit street.

He turned towards me and smiled softly. "Anytime, McKinnon."

"You know, if you smile like this when no one else is around, you really mean it. It says a lot, you know?"

Sirius froze for a second and blinked, taken aback. I gently tucked at his arm and wrapped mine tightly around his waist.

"So, Italian it is, then?" I said and acted as if I didn't notice the soft smile he was shooting my way.

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I hope you liked it! As always, please leave a comment, telling me what you think. I love reading and answering them!

I'm not totally happy with this story, as I was really struggling during this round, but I hope you enjoyed it nevertheless.

 **Word count:** 2980

Until next time - see ya!


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